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A documentary about priests and nuns who protested the Vietnam War by breaking into draft boards, destroying draft records, and then waiting to be arrested. Their actions inspired many and shaped the anti-war movement.

About

Hit and Stay

$20,870

pledged of $20,000 goal

243

backers

Hit and Stay is a feature-length documentary about the antiwar movement. It takes an in-depth look at the Vietnam War era activists who attacked the Selective Service system and attempted to throw a wrench into the U.S. war machine.

Hit and Stay will be the definitive documentary about the Catonsville Nine and the actions that followed—the so-called Catholic Left, a group comprised largely of priests and nuns who destroyed draft records and raided the corporate offices of companies that profited from the war. This documentary tells their story in their own words with more archival footage and activists interviewed than any prior film. Interviewees include Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Bill Ayers, Amy Goodman, and over 30 activists from draft board actions. Hit and Stay seeks to be a major conversation-starter about the antiwar movement (then and now). But we need your help to finish the project.

We, Joe Tropea and Skizz Cyzyk, have been working on Hit and Stay since fall 2007; it’s been a labor of love. We’ve kept a shoestring budget until now and could really use your help in getting the film to post production. Funds raised in this first pledge drive will enable us to travel to the West Coast to finish shooting interviews, secure permissions and usage fees, and edit the film.

In 1967, the Baltimore Four poured blood on a few hundred A-1 draft files and waited peacefully to be arrested. They hoped not only to spare a few lives by denying the Selective Service system recruits, but also to start a discussion about the morality of war and conscription and to inspire others to take similar action.

The following year, the Catonsville Nine, Milwaukee 14, and D.C. Nine followed up with similar actions carried out by groups of priests, nuns, and their friends. Their tactics and goals moved beyond symbolic action; in doing so they subjected themselves to serious prison sentences. They sought to put the war on trial as they were being tried for their acts of resistance.

Hundreds more soon joined in as a flood of similar actions followed throughout the early 1970s. Their tactics changed: Symbolic action gave way to concerted efforts to disrupt the Selective Service system, state by state. Activists stopped waiting around to be arrested and started trying to destroy as many induction files as possible and evade capture. Many of them took part in multiple actions. Many ended up serving lengthy prison terms.

Actions like the Catonsville Nine received massive media attention, others went uncovered by the press and unreported or even downplayed by government officials. But the government took notice and Hoover’s FBI set out to infiltrate the movement and nullify it as it did the Black Panthers, Weather Underground, and other organizations. By the mid-1970s, it seemed the government had succeeded.

But these actions inspired untold numbers of people around the world. And many of the so-called Catholic Left or Ultra Resistance activists have continued the struggle and are working toward a variety of causes today. This is their story in their own words.